Resources and Links

Social Studies Lesson Resources

Doable, engaging lesson plans that integrate technology!

A WebQuest is an inquiry oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation.WebQuests!

American Memory
American Memory is the online resource compiled by the Library of Congress National Digital Library Program. With the participation of other libraries and archives, the program provides a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and cultural developments of the United States. http://rs6.loc.gov/

Civil War Letters and Diaries
This University of Virginia site holds a wonderful collection of Civil War letters and diaries. This written material would be a great compliment to the Matthew Brady Civil War photographs that can be found in the Digital Classroom.http://spec.lib.vt.edu/civwar/

C-SPAN
The C-SPAN classroom enables teachers to use primary sources, including clips, to teach about public affairs topics.http://www.c-span.org

Gilder Lehrman Institute
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History web site features easy to read primary sources and lesson plans based on their holdings. They also have podcasts of lectures on a variety of topics by prominent historians. A wonderful resource.http://www.gilderlehrman.org

Library of Congress
Access to American Memory (documents, photographs, movies, and sounds that tell America's story), Thomas (full text access to current bills under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate), Exhibitions (you may have missed them on display in Washington, but they are now open indefinitely on the Internet), Library Services (acquisitions, cataloging, preservation, research, special programs, standards and access to the catalogs of the Library of Congress and other libraries), and Research Tools (catalogs of the Library of Congress and other libraries, databases on special topics, and other Library of Congress Internet resources).http://www.loc.gov/

National Archives and Records Administration
The NARA mission is to to ensure ready access to essential evidence. Includes an Online Exhibit Hall, the Digital Classroom, and Events.http://www.nara.gov/

Native Web
This site features resources on "native" people from around the world in order to foster communication about and among these people.http://www.nativeweb.org/

Our Documents
The Our Documents web site explores 100 milestone documents of American History that reflect our diversity and our unity, our past and our future, our commitment as a nation to strive to "form a more perfect union."http://www.ourdocuments.gov

US State Department
Information, documents,and primary sources from presidential libraries, Departments of State and Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and other agencies, as well as the private papers of individuals.http://www.state.gov

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Features online exhibits, contests, and other resources on the
Holocaust.http://www.ushmm.org

Vote Smart Web
Exceptionally up to date, this non-partisan page and federal elections info, as well as candidate info.https://votesmart.org/

Presidential Libraries

Presidential Libraries IDEA Network
Home of the Presidential Libraries Web, Web Sites of the Presidents, and First Lady Web Sites

The George Bush Presidential Library
A variety of primary sources provided covering his life time and presidency. Lesson plans focus on US History and interdisciplinary units - combining both science and social studies for all levels.https://www.bush41.org

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
A variety of primary sources provided covering his life time and presidency. Teaching units available are Dwight E. Eisenhower: A Kansas Boy of Good Character (Elem) and K-3 Character Education Resource Book and World War II Spy Kit: The Great nazi Intelligence Coup (Sec).http://www.dwightdeisenhower.com

The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library
A variety of primary sources provided covering his life time and presidency. Teaching units provide are Laura Ingalls Wilder Material-Westward Movement in US History (Elem.).http://hoover.archives.gov

The Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library
A variety of primary sources provided covering his life time and presidency including auditory segments and transcripts of his personal tapes. Activities are available for Civil Rights-Selma to Montgomery March (Elem/Sec).http://www.lbjlibrary.org/

The John F. Kennedy Library
A variety of primary sources provided covering his life time and presidency. Lesson plans and activities are still under development.http://www.jfklibrary.org

The Harry S.Truman Presidential Library
A variety of primary sources provided covering his life time and presidency. Teaching units available are Three Branches of Government(Elem), United Nations Milestones (Elem), The Berline Airlift (Sec), The Atomic Bomb (Sec)http://www.trumanlibrary.org

Texas History

Texas Land Office/ Archives and Records
The repository of the original land grants of Texas, going back to the Spanish period. These primary source documents tell the story of Texas through the history of our land.http://www.glo.texas.gov/history/archives/visit/

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection from the University of Texas
A comprehensive collection of maps including world maps and historical maps.https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/

The Portal of Texas History
With the guidance of Texas History master teachers, the UNT Portal team has developed curriculum study guides that map materials from the Portal collections to the TEKS requirements for students studying Texas History in the 4th and 7th grades. Using the study guides, Texas History teachers can direct students to primary source historical documents that will dramatically enrich their learning experience.http://texashistory.unt.edu/young/educators/

State of Texas Government Home Page
This government run site offers information about Texas Agencies, Counties, Cities, and Councils of Government. You can also find the state constitution as well as basic information such as state bird and state gemstone.http://www.texas.gov/

Texas Beyond History
This site provides the best information on the internet about Texas. It is maintained by the The University of Texas.http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/

Texas Law Related Education
LRE specializes in civic and law related curriculum development for K-12 social studies courses. Workshops and institutes are available to educators throughout the year such as the Hatton Sumner Institutes and other programs such as the LRE conference, Law and the Humanities and Courts of Texas.http://www.texaslre.org/

World History

HyperHistory
HyperHistory presents 3000 years of world history with a combination of colorful graphics, lifelines, timelines, and maps. These resources are easy to navigate and view online, though they are difficult to print.http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html

Why Do Civilizations Fall?
This interactive site gives information about the fall of the Mayan civilization. Throughout the site, questions are asked that the students answer based on the clues given throughout the site.http://www.learner.org/exhibits/collapse/

You Be the Judge on Hammurabi's Code
This site gives background knowledge about Hammurabi's Code and includes an interactive game where students evaluate the consequences of Hammurabi's Code.www.phillipmartin.info/hammurabi/homepage.htm

Geography * World Cultures

GeoNet Game
An interactive game based on world geography standards. Students can choose areas of the world, categories of questions, and difficulty levels as they earn points.http://www.eduplace.com/geo/index.html

Hemispheres
Hemispheres, comprised of the University of Texas' four federally-funded National Resource Centers (NRCs) is dedicated to the study and teaching of Latin America; the Middle East; Russia, Eastern Europe & Eurasia; and South Asia This site provides information, lesson plans and free, low cost services for K-12 fostering knowledge and understanding of these regions.

Maps101 is an ideal and immediate solution for integrating web technology into the classroom. Maps101 provides users with a collection of over 4,000 online resources and maps, which are optimized for printing and immediate use.http://www.maps101.com

Western Europe
This site offers transcripts, facsimiles, and translations of primary documents dealing with Western European nations. Indexed by country, there under documents are in roughly chronological order.http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Main_Page

Government

Law Related Education
LRE specializes in civic and law related curriculum development for K-12 social studies courses. Workshops and institutes are available to educators throughout the year such as the Hatton Sumner Institutes and other programs such as the LRE conference, Law and the Humanities and Courts of Texas.http://www.texaslre.org/

Psychology

Psych Web
A well stocked site featuring print resources, education and career resources, web links, and more in the area of psychology.http://www.psywww.com/

Sociology

General

History Channel
Features lesson plans on a variety of topics. You can register to receive a free copy of the Save Our History Educator's Manual or purchase a copy. Teachers also receive a discount on DVDs when they register to receive newsletters.http://www.history.com/classroom

Political Cartoons
Includes lesson plans for using political cartoons as a teaching tool in Social Sciences, Art, Journalism, and English at all grade levels.http://www.cagle.com/teacher/

Professional Cartoonists Index
An index to editorial cartoons "to spark discussion and learning." This site includes a teacher's guide, but as with any political topics, some may be controversial.http://cagle.com/